Electrophoretic separation of DNA fragments is used for a number of purposes in molecular and clinical biology and medicine, including next generation DNA sequencing, medical diagnostics, forensic science and DNA computing.
Preparative gel electrophoresis of DNA has good resolution, adequate capacity and ease of use on a small scale. However, the manual process is both time and labor intensive. Critically, it is difficult to remove the desired DNA fraction from the gel. This removal process routinely entails excising a band or portion from the gel containing the DNA of interest and then extracting it by a variety of chemical and physical means including the use of enzymes, centrifugation, freezing and more. Importantly, these methods substantially reduce the amount of DNA harvested and dilute the resultant DNA into large volumes of fluid, therefore, requiring additional time and expense to re-concentrate it into a smaller, usable, aliquot. This problem is so significant to the field of molecular biology, in fact, that the removal of DNA from gels in small volumes of fluid has spawned a separate industry for making various types of kits, reagents and devices to accomplish the task. However, despite a demonstrated need and the efforts of skilled artisans, a solution has not yet been developed.